Beer Me! / The Beer Exchange Kick Off
This month Bourbon and Goose launched the BEER ME! Beer Exchange—a monthly meet-up at the B&G Studio located in the Arts District of Downtown LA where people can come together to exchange their favorite beers, share their home brews and socialize. While Sam and I enjoy our craft cocktails, we are also avid beer drinkers so this idea was an easy one to explore. We tend to favor local microbreweries like Smog City, Eagle Rock Brewery and Craftsman but lately we've also been wanting to expand our beer knowledge. Luckily for us, some of our good friends are learning the ropes of home brewing and are now our go-tos for beer talk. So how did this idea really come about? During a random afternoon chat back in December, our neighbor's friend from out of town started talking about his beer exchanging via snail mail with a buddy of his in Oregon. The idea of mailing the beer back and forth didn't appeal to me but got me thinking: why isn't there a beer exchange close to home? I'm all for beer festivals but I needed something a little more chill—basically a place where it's no frills, just come with the beer you love or the beer you make and share it with others. Volia! That's how this meet-up was created and I'm happy to report that our kickoff BEER ME! exchange was a success. The group consisted of good friends and new friends, a local home brewer and one really cute baby. Yes, I said baby. Everyone was happy to exchange their current favorite ales, talk shop about beer and rate the selections. We even had a fake fist fight over local home brewer, Marshall Seligman's Mission Fig Stout, which you'll learn more about later this month with a fun Q&A featuring Marshall's creative process and inspiration.
To kick off the event, I selected The Dudes' Double Trunk IPA as the feature beer for March. Normally, I tend to pass by IPAs as I find them to be minty and piney in flavor BUT I fell in love with this double India Pale Ale and it's awesome packaging. FYI: I'm a total sucker for great packaging AND elephants so I knew this would be a win-win situation. Made in Torrance (LA), The Dudes' are a local microbrewery that have a whole list of craft beers that I'm itching to try, especially Grandma's Pecan, an English style ale that sounds divine.
Wrapping up the meet-up, there was plenty of beer ready to take home—the perfect way to end a very fun day. Can't wait for next month's!
Interested in being the feature beer or the guest home brewer for April? Email me via the contact form and I'll get you set up. For those that would like to attend the next meet-up, I'll be announcing the date later this month.
Fighting over Marshall's Fig Stout
Sam getting his Magic Hat Heart of Darkness on
Marshall sharing his latest home brew creations
Tk & Jesse showing off those red cups
Beer talk
The Dudes' Double Trunk (Double India Pale Ale)
Lovebirds Matteson and Lau
Variety pack #ftw
Beer selects
Variety of beers